Sunday – 4.21.13

This week we were honored to hear from one of our elders, Ken Cantrell.

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The Bible is an amazing book filled with all kinds of incredible things. As Christians, we recognize that the Bible is God’s word to us. It has answers to many of life’s questions, but we have to recognize that we may not find them quickly. It may take years. And the truth is, there are some questions we will never find answers to. But we have permission to ask. The Bible and the God that it reveals can handle our questioning. In its 66 books the Bible includes narrative passages, historical accounts, books of law, books of prophecy, letters, poetry, etc. All of these books were written by some 40 authors over several milleniums. In all of that, the Bible tells one consistent story. It tells a story that reveals who God is and what He is like; who mankind is and what mankind is like. It also reveals the good news about what God has done to reconcile mankind to Himself. But, because this story can be hard to believe, those who do believe it don’t always like to tell this story to others. In spite of God telling us to not be ashamed of the good news often times we are ashamed to share it.

What is the singular story that the Bible tells? It tells us that God is the creator of all things and that we, mankind, are part of his creation. We were made to be in relationship with God and with each other; to love God and depend on Him at all times. The problem is that every single one of us doesn’t want God to be in control. We want control ourselves, and so have rebelled and in doing so have sinned against God. And this sin against God as broken everything from the physical world that we live in to the relationships that we have with both each other and with God. And so we all deserve punishment, death, an eternity separated from God in hell. But the good news, the gospel, is that Christ took our punishment for us and died in our place. And now, for those who believe, God looks at us and only sees Christ, and welcomes us into an eternity in the relationship with Him and with each other that we were created to have in the first place. We can forgive one another because we know how much we have been forgiven. We can serve God and one another without guilt of without trying to earn favor with God or with others. We can truly love one another because we know how much we have been loved.